Canada’s National Urban Parks Program
Parks Canada is collaborating with local partners, including First Nation and Métis leaders and organizations, to create a network of national urban parks in Canada’s large urban centers. Together, these parks will create a network with a shared vision to conserve nature, connect Canadians with nature and advance reconciliation with First Nation and Métis Peoples.
The network of national urban parks will involve unique places across Canada, each with their own governance model. Each national urban park’s approach to governance will be determined by local circumstances, and in collaboration with partners. At this point, Parks Canada anticipates that any national urban park in the Saskatoon region would be governed under some version or evolution of the existing model used by the Meewasin Valley Authority.
Parks Canada is committed to a collaborative approach and will not expropriate any land to create national urban parks. Private lands would only ever be purchased on a willing seller-willing buyer basis.
Parks Canada is pleased to be working with, and learning from, partners from across the Saskatoon region!
A national urban park in the Saskatoon region will help us...
Connect with Nature
Whether you like to walk, ride, roll, watch birds or just sit, parks have something for everyone.
Protect Saskatchewan’s Biodiversity
80% of our wetlands have disappeared over the last 100 years and less than 14% of our grasslands remain. Parks provide a place where these essential natural features can be restored and safeguarded.
Support Climate Resilience
By restoring or protecting natural climate solutions, the Greater Saskatoon region can better respond to greenhouse gas emissions and severe weather such as flooding.
Improve Health and Wellness
As cities grow, more people need access to outdoor space. An urban park in the heart of Saskatoon provides opportunities for recreation, reflection and rejuvenation.
Increase Social Inclusion
Funding and support for national urban parks will remove financial, proximity and accessibility barriers and allow more people to benefit.
Centre Indigenous Voices and Stories
Honouring connections to lands and waters by providing space for Indigenous stewardship, knowledge and values will be another important step on towards reconciliation.
Map
In 1979, the Government of Saskatchewan passed the Meewasin Valley Authority Act, to conserve the cultural and natural resources of the South Saskatchewan River Valley. We have spent over four decades stewarding the land in the Meewasin Valley which resides on Treaty Six Territory and homeland of the Métis.
Today, the Meewasin Valley runs approximately 75 km along the river valley, through the City of Saskatoon and across the Rural Municipality of Corman Park.
The Meewasin Valley runs through 60 percent rural lands and 40 percent urban. There are more than 67 square kilometres (the equivalent of 13,400 football fields) in the conservation zone made up of different landscapes:
MAP TOOL TIP!
Click on one of the land use filters above to learn more about it!
The Meewasin Valley Authority
Meewasin is a non-profit organization that exists to ensure a healthy and vibrant river valley, with a balance between human use and conservation, for the benefit of present and future generations, in Saskatoon & area.
Created in 1979 by an Act of the Government of Saskatchewan, The Meewasin Valley Authority Act, Meewasin is a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving the cultural and natural resources of the South Saskatchewan River Valley.
Click on the button below to learn more about the Meewasin Valley Authority.
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